{"id":16434,"date":"2014-09-03T06:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naturemoms.com\/blog\/?p=16434"},"modified":"2014-08-31T20:01:11","modified_gmt":"2014-08-31T20:01:11","slug":"saving-food-for-those-that-need-it-via-dumpster-diving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naturemoms.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/03\/saving-food-for-those-that-need-it-via-dumpster-diving\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Food for Those That Need it Via Dumpster Diving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Young<\/a><\/p>\n

Below is an interview I did quite some time ago with a lovely woman named Ginger Freebird<\/a>. I\u00a0met her on Twitter and became interested in her Squidoo site about Freeganism.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0was so intrigued by her amazing story that I interviewed her for a podcast that I used to do (many years ago). I came across the conversation buried deep within the archives of this site and decided to republish. What she does reminds me so much of a movie I watched recently about dumpster diving for food. It’s called Dive!: Living off America’s Waste<\/a>. It’s fantastic! I so admire folks who take action to rescue perfectly good food so that those who truly need it can benefit.\u00a0Hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n

What exactly is freeganism, for those that don\u2019t know?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginger Freebird:<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Freeganism is a term that was coined from free and from vegan.\u00a0\u00a0Freegans live without consuming a lot of things in their lifestyle.\u00a0\u00a0Many of them are vegan, which is vegetarian without the dairy. \u00a0So, they\u2019re looking for strategies to live without buying all the things that Americans think we need to buy.\u00a0\u00a0Specifically, getting food from bins behind grocery stores.\u00a0\u00a0Fresh food, today\u2019s food, that is sitting there in boxes just out of the fridge, and using that to eat and in my case to feed many of the homeless people.<\/p>\n

How exactly did you get started doing this?\u00a0\u00a0Would you also call it dumpster diving, or do you prefer one term or the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginger Freebird<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Lately, I\u2019ve come up with the word Food Activist, and Homeless Advocate, Environmentalist, Food Rescuer, a lot of different terms.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t actually dive into dumpsters.\u00a0I think it would be pretty dangerous to actually go in.\u00a0\u00a0There is broken glass, there are nails from broken palettes that they stack the food on a lot of times, spaghetti sauce, and cans of open paint that people throw in.\u00a0\u00a0Not to mention raccoons and squirrels sometimes. I blame getting started into this lifestyle on Oprah.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m an Oprah fan.\u00a0\u00a0On February 27th, 2008 she had a show about what she called Freegans.\u00a0\u00a0These are educated people in New York City that go out at night and find good food in bins and use that for their groceries.<\/p>\n

I never thought I\u2019d do something like this.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve got college degrees, education.\u00a0\u00a0I never thought I\u2019d look in a bin.\u00a0\u00a0You think old moldy food, and bugs, and things.\u00a0But, my curiosity was great.\u00a0I looked in a local bin behind a grocery store and was shocked to find 6 feet wide, 6 feet deep, 6 feet tall of fresh fruit in boxes just sitting there.\u00a0\u00a0And vegetables, broccoli, pineapple, tomatoes, apples, New Zealand kiwi.\u00a0\u00a0All sorts of organic vegetables, because they\u2019re more expensive and don\u2019t sell as much.\u00a0Oranges, grapefruits, celery, strawberries.\u00a0\u00a0It was like finding a tree of plenty.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been an avid garage sale person.\u00a0\u00a0I like a good bargain, and I like recycling and living green.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve also always been an avid gardener and vegetable gardener.\u00a0\u00a0I like getting my hands dirty and planting seeds, and watching them grow.\u00a0To see all this beautiful food, these voluptuous vegetables and juicy fruits that were absolutely fine to be thrown away was amazing.\u00a0\u00a0So, I just took the boxes out and put them in my trunk.\u00a0\u00a0I came home, cleaned them, chopped and froze some and ate them.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve had smoothies for 9 months now every day.\u00a0\u00a0The most delicious smoothies.<\/p>\n

Oprah got me started with my curiosity.\u00a0\u00a0Then I got the idea that there\u2019s so\u00a0much, I\u2019ve got to feed the homeless with this.\u00a0There are thousands of homeless people in my city.\u00a0\u00a0So, I started calling up homeless shelters to see if they needed food.\u00a0I found two shelters that are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to receive food.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t ask where it comes from, they can see that it\u2019s good.\u00a0\u00a0There are some shelters that have stricter laws and the foods must be packaged, so they will not take fresh fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

Also, I first called the local police non-emergency line to see what the laws were, if it was illegal to take things out of store bins.\u00a0\u00a0They said it really wasn\u2019t and no one had ever been arrested for that.\u00a0\u00a0So, I felt more comfortable.\u00a0You almost feel like you\u2019re stealing or doing something you shouldn\u2019t be doing, because it\u2019s not accepted by society.\u00a0\u00a0They think you\u2019re a bum, you\u2019re a desperate person, and it\u2019s disgusting.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t see that it\u2019s just like taking everything out of your refrigerator and placing it in a clean plastic bag, putting it in your bin, and then going out in 20 minutes and taking that bag in and putting the items back in your refrigerator.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s about how disgusting it is.<\/p>\n

When I think about taking food from a dumpster behind a store, I\u2019m thinking that they\u2019re throwing out the stuff that\u2019s bad.\u00a0\u00a0Has that been your experience?\u00a0\u00a0Are you finding perfectly good fresh food in the garbage can that was thrown out for some unforeseen reason?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginger Freebird<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0Yes.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m finding about 90 percent of it is just fine.\u00a0\u00a0The fruits and vegetables may have a small bruise or brown leaf.\u00a0\u00a0They just simply have to make room for the new vegetables and fruits coming in, I think.\u00a0Also, there\u2019s strict policies with yogurts, pizzas, frozen goods, and so on.\u00a0They will throw it out on the expiration date.\u00a0\u00a0But, I have checked with a large food bank and they say that most of these things are good for 6 days after their expiration date, as long as they were kept properly refrigerated at 41 degrees.<\/p>\n

I check certain bins often, and then I know that it\u2019s just been thrown out and I can feel that it\u2019s still cold.\u00a0\u00a0Then I get it right home and into the fridge or freezer.\u00a0\u00a0I sort through.\u00a0\u00a0There may be some, often one broken jar of spaghetti sauce in an area.\u00a0\u00a0So, it can be a mess at times.<\/p>\n

How did you make the leap from just curiosity looking into a couple of these bins to deciding that you were going to make it charitable work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginger Freebird<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve always had compassion for homeless people and the less fortunate.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t like to see things go to waste, and it just seemed natural to make this connection.\u00a0\u00a0To know I\u2019m within half an hour of thousands of people being hungry that can\u2019t get to this food.\u00a0Then I put a little ad on Craigslist for any drivers that would like to help distribute the food and they would get a free box of food themselves for doing it to help pay for their gas.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s helped several people that are the working poor, or that want to help out.\u00a0\u00a0It came to be that they saw the quality of the food they were getting.<\/p>\n

The main comments I got from the shelters were, \u201cThere\u2019s so many fresh fruits and vegetables we don\u2019t get from the food banks.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The food banks do a wonderful job and the stores donate to them every day, but there\u2019s still, I\u2019ve estimated conservatively, each store throws away about 500 dollars worth of good fresh food every day, which is 18,000 dollars a month, which is 150,000 a year.\u00a0\u00a0A city with 400 stores is 72 million dollars worth of good, usable food.<\/p>\n

The problem is getting it quickly.\u00a0\u00a0It needs to get quickly to a shelter within an hour or so if it\u2019s a non-refrigerated vehicle in order to stay safe.\u00a0\u00a0So, that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do is coordinate where we can get it quickly to these places. \u00a0A runaway teen shelter called me and said, \u201cI hear you\u2019re giving all these good cinnamon rolls, fruits, and vegetables to this other place.\u00a0\u00a0Could you please help us out?\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll send a driver out.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0So, they send their own driver out once a week and then they even donated a nice refrigerator to me to have in the garage so that I have two now.\u00a0\u00a0I often have about 200 pounds of food every week and I can collect more to give them if I can refrigerate it for a couple of days and not have to gather it all in that one day.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s satisfying.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s something about physically going out and doing this work.\u00a0\u00a0It is physically demanding.\u00a0\u00a0And then meeting a need, it just feels good.\u00a0It\u2019s such a nice break from computer work and paper work, and things that take forever.\u00a0\u00a0Here you just do something and it\u2019s actually helping people immediately.\u00a0\u00a0It feels good.<\/p>\n

One story they had that one teenager got a job and needed roller blades to get over there quickly.\u00a0\u00a0Because now they have to spend much less on groceries, since I\u2019m providing them they were able to spend 40 dollars on roller blades for him, and he was able to go to work.\u00a0\u00a0So, it stopped his cycle of addictions, and problems, and so on.\u00a0\u00a0It was a big part of the way he was helped to get a job and change his life.<\/p>\n

Another time, I found blankets in the bin.\u00a0\u00a0On the weekends, the normal American citizens just throw all their stuff in the bins at stores if they happen to be moving, or happen to have stuff they don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n

I found a real sick comforter, it had one rip.\u00a0\u00a0I donated it to the shelter.\u00a0\u00a0The next week they told me that it kept one boy from having to sleep on the cement floor of the men\u2019s shelter, because there wasn\u2019t room for him elsewhere.\u00a0\u00a0So, he got to sleep on that blanket.<\/p>\n

In fact, their whole budget has gone from 500 dollars a week that they used to spend on groceries, now they\u2019re spending 50 dollars a week on groceries.<\/p>\n

Do you have a rough idea of how much in a monetary value how much you\u2019ve been able to help these homeless shelters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ginger Freebird<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019re valuing it at about $450 a week.\u00a0\u00a0Then I give it to miscellaneous other ones.\u00a0\u00a0I have been keeping a tally.\u00a0\u00a0I take pictures of most everything I get, and I keep lists.\u00a0I put it on Twitter under Twitter.com\/freegan, I put down my daily runs, my bun runs, what I\u2019ve got.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s about 29,000 dollars now in 9 months.\u00a0\u00a0This also has been feeding my family, so it\u2019s cut our grocery bill about 300 dollars a month.\u00a0\u00a0I only have to get a few things now, everything else is provided.<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s kind of a sense of adventure.\u00a0\u00a0I need something that\u2019s a sense of adventure, and something different.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s actually a good therapy for depression.\u00a0It gets you up, and you think, \u201cI\u2019ve got to see what\u2019s in the bin today.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s always surprising things.\u00a0\u00a0One day I found 26 five pound crates of oranges that were absolutely delicious.\u00a0\u00a0I ate about 30 a day, and then gave away hundreds of them.<\/p>\n

There are things to keep in mind.\u00a0\u00a0If someone is thinking of trying this, definitely make sure it\u2019s okay with the police first.\u00a0\u00a0Then go when there aren\u2019t many people around.\u00a0\u00a0I suggest taking a car and parking a little ways, usually there\u2019s a parking spot 10 or 20 feet away, and then when no one is around just go and look in.<\/p>\n

I use a grabber device, the type that older people use when they can\u2019t pick things up.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a 3 foot pole with a handle, then the claws go together.\u00a0\u00a0I found there are a lot of cheap ones out there, and a good one is the MedMinds brand that\u2019s found at Walgreen\u2019s for 20 dollars.\u00a0\u00a0It pays for itself in about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

You can stand outside the bin, and just lean that in and it will pick up cans and fruits and things.\u00a0\u00a0The best days are when it\u2019s stacked high and you can just lift the whole boxes of fruit out, and you don\u2019t have to take it one by one with the grabber. But, it will grab loaves of bread and so on.<\/p>\n

The second tool that is needed is some sort of rake or long poled thing that can bring things from the back of the bin to the front, then you can get it with your grabber.\u00a0\u00a0Also, I recommend wearing a back brace or back support type of thing, and wrist braces, and old clothes that you don\u2019t mind if they get paint, spaghetti sauce, or ruined.<\/p>\n

I wear solid dark clothes just so that I won\u2019t stand out.\u00a0\u00a0Tennis shoes and socks to protect my feet.\u00a0\u00a0There are nails and glass sometimes around there.\u00a0\u00a0I wear a hat and sunglasses.\u00a0\u00a0Then I have a nice BMW, so people just think I\u2019m getting a box.\u00a0\u00a0The ruse is you just keep an empty box beside you, and if someone does come by you can just take the box and get into your car.\u00a0\u00a0They think you\u2019re looking for boxes to move, and that\u2019s socially acceptable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing.\u00a0\u00a0Some statistics are that there are about 36 million people in America that are what they call food insecure.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t know where their next meal is coming from, or if they\u2019ll have a next meal.\u00a0About 13 million of those are children.\u00a0\u00a023 million are adults.\u00a0\u00a0Those are older statistics, so I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve increased.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no reason that anyone needs to be hungry in America.\u00a0\u00a0We actually already have the food.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s just a matter of getting the trust of some of these grocery stores and having them take the time to let you have a driver come by and take their 10 sheet cakes instead of seeing them all thrown in the bottom of a bin on top of bread, on top of apples, and other things.<\/p>\n

I got all of my Halloween decorations from the bins.\u00a0\u00a0Tons of pumpkins.\u00a0\u00a0I get about 10 bouquets of flowers a week.\u00a0\u00a0I just got 22 herb plants a week ago that I\u2019m nursing back to life and are doing well.<\/p>\n

My ultimate goal is to see everyone fed in America.\u00a0\u00a0It is feasible to feed everyone.\u00a0\u00a0I would like to see the stores actually approve us picking this up.\u00a0\u00a0Where we wouldn\u2019t have to get it from a bin, we would be stopping by.\u00a0I would like to see a network in my city of hundreds of drivers that would be picking up from a store close to them and then it would be coordinated to take to a shelter that\u2019s near them.\u00a0\u00a0They would get to keep one box of food themselves and they would get a receipt from the shelter.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019d have it all coordinated and worked out that way.<\/p>\n

I am starting the paperwork and I do have some restaurants that do want to work with us, and some caterers.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a matter of getting enough drivers that can pick these up at convenient times for the stores and take it immediately to the shelters.\u00a0That\u2019s feasible to happen.\u00a0\u00a0With the food banks they have to send out their drivers to go to all the stores all day long in refrigerated trucks, bring it back, store it at their central area, then sort it all out, then take it later.\u00a0\u00a0So they can\u2019t handle all the fresh fruits and vegetables.\u00a0\u00a0They do handle some.\u00a0\u00a0I see filling a real need with the fresh fruits and vegetables, and then also the bakery items, deli items, and anything else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is an interview I did quite some time ago with a lovely woman named Ginger Freebird. I\u00a0met her on Twitter and became interested in her Squidoo site about Freeganism.\u00a0\u00a0I\u00a0was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-self-sufficiency"],"yoast_head":"\nSaving Food for Those That Need it Via Dumpster Diving - Nature Moms<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/naturemoms.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/03\/saving-food-for-those-that-need-it-via-dumpster-diving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saving Food for Those That Need it Via Dumpster Diving - Nature Moms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Below is an interview I did quite some time ago with a lovely woman named Ginger Freebird. 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